Technology Mentoring
Fall Semester 2001
Mentor: Hsueh-Hua Chuang
Mentee: Marcia Rosenbusch
Dr. Rosenbusch : This semester my technology mentor, Hsueh-Hua Chuang, and I worked on the
use of digital video clips for my course, FLng/CI/Ling 486 Methods in Foreign Language
Instruction: Elementary School. I have access to digital videotapes of 14 one-hour Spanish
classes for children who have just completed kindergarten and first grade. These classes are part
of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center and
are taught by an expert teacher.
Hsueh-Hua : I enjoy working with Dr. Rosenbusch. She is very organized and very
determined when it comes to effective use of technology use in foreign language teaching. I
think that she is a very good role model for me. She doesn’t have the “technology is there;
we’ve got to use it” mentality; instead, she focuses on the effective use of technology in
teaching and learning. During the time we worked together, we had brainstormed ideas of
what kind of technology can be integrated into the methods course that she was teaching.
She had the video clips available but how to make good use of them in her class was the
goal that was to reach this semester. I felt that this was a once in life time opportunity for
me to be engaged in an authentic teaching environment in exploring the use of digital video.
This is my favorite part of being a student mentor to a faculty member that I learn of the
state of the art technology in a very meaningful “real world” situation. Nowhere else could
I be offered this kind of opportunity.
Dr. Rosenbusch :I had the wonderful advantage of teaching in a technology-smart classroom this
fall (N121 Lagomarcino) where I had access to laptop computers, wireless Internet connection,
computer, VCR, and Elmo, all connected to a Smart Board. This was the ideal setting for
exploring how digital video might effectively be used in my methods course.
Hsueh-Hua : N121 Lagomarcino, a wireless classroom. Dr. Rosenbusch and I checked on
the iBook laptops while we went through the instruction sheet for students on how to use
the digital camcorder and iMovie. She asked for my opinions on the procedure in compling
the instruction sheet. I was impressed with the professionalism presented by Dr.
Rosenbusch. I know that she has been teaching the same course over a period of time but
she updates her teaching materials, adds new teaching strategies, and closely examines
every step in her lesson plan. She has taught me what professionalism means without
saying a word to me.
Dr. Rosenbusch :I decided that I would like to use digital video clips in specific topics to allow
pairs of students to view the clips and reflect on questions related to them. With my mentor's
assistance, and the loan of an iBook and a CTLT digital video camera, I used iMovie to create
short digital video clips (3-9 minutes) on the topic of strategies for beginning and ending a
foreign language class in the target language. I prepared a sheet of instructions on how to use the
digital video camera with the laptop computer and how to view the clips using iMovie, and a
worksheet of guiding questions related to the specific clip viewed by each pair of students.
During the first class using the digital video clips, some of the pairs of students found that their
clip had distorted sound, even though the sound was not distorted when I prepared the clips. My
mentor, together with the CTLT staff, worked together to determine the cause of the problem.
Amazingly, the conclusion was that if an “older” model digital video camera was used to record
the clips, as it was in this case, the sound on the clips played on “newer” model cameras was
distorted. Certainly, without the tech support to resolve this problem, I would not have wanted to
work further with the digital video clips. Knowing the cause of the problem, however, I simply
reserved an “older” model camera to record the clips and “older” model cameras to play them.
Later, I experimented recording with a “newer” model camera and found that both the “older”
and “newer” cameras would play these clips without distortion. Therefore, I learned that for
greatest flexibility, I should record the clips in iMovie with a newer model camera.
Hsueh-Hua : It was indeed very confusing at first. I could not figure out why the video clips
have problems. I was glad that we figured it out. New model!
Dr. Rosenbusch :I used digital video clips in my course on four occasions, addressing the
following four topics:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teaching strategies for opening and closing a class;
Analysis of strategies for teaching a foreign language;
Classroom management; and
Teaching of reading and writing in their foreign language.
I asked the students to reflect on the experience of using the digital video clips in the last class of
the semester. Although I have not had time to examine their responses in detail, representative
comments are included here.
It is clear that students felt that the advantages of using the digital video clips were primarily that
they had an opportunity to see “actual teaching.”
We have never seen elementary foreign language — so the clips were very exciting to
watch. I liked analyzing and watching for certain things. Watching the videos showed
many methods that we could use!
We got to see an actual lesson and also student reactions. It gave me a better sense of
what I could face in a classroom situation.
It allows you to look at real classrooms without actually going there.
The disadvantages of using the digital video clips related in part to the technical difficulties
experienced.
Technology isn't always reliable.
Technical difficulties.
Other comments were quite varied, including a preference for participating actively in the
lessons modeled by the methods professor, to viewing digital video clips; a preference for
viewing the video clip as a class and discussing it together; a lack of comfort in using technology
was perceived to have been experienced by some students; and the use of the clips in four
different classes seemed repetitive.
Hsueh-Hua : When I met with Dr. Rosenbusch today, she showed me feedbacks from her
students. We were very excited about the outcome. Jon ( CTLT lab manager) proposed
that we could have the video clips burned on CD-Rom so we wouldn’t have to check out the
digital camcorder, the firwire cable, and go over the process of importing the video clips
into iMovie. I told Dr. Rosenbusch that it was not a problem at all. The only thing that I
was concerned about is the file size. I know that video files tend to be big unless you
sacrifice the video quality. But for a foreign language methods course, the quality of video
clips is the first priority. I experimented exporting the video clip using full quality in
iMovie and burned the file on CD-ROM. It was not a successful experience. The file (a 3
minute long video clip) was too big to fit into a CD (650 MB). We started to look for some
alternative way.
Dr. Rosenbusch : One suggestion a student made for change in the use of the video clips is one
that my mentor and I are currently exploring. That is the burning of the video clips on CD-ROM.
Our concern about this mode of presentation is that 1) the diminished quality of the clip on CDROM and 2) the students will not be able to select a one- to two-minute segment to show the
class as they present their findings. We have an appointment next week to meet with a staff
member of the Instructional Technology Center on campus to explore the possibility of their
assistance in maintaining the high quality of the video clips as they are burned on a CD-ROM.
My mentor and I continue to explore the possibilities for using the digital clips in varied ways.
We have communicated with In-Time, a PT-3 project, and have received CD-ROMs they have
produced. We also have visited their Web site and examined their use of video clips on the Web.
Next semester I am scheduled to teach this course on ICN, so we are also considering the varied
uses of the video clips that the ICN will permit.
Hsueh-Hua : Dr. Rosenbusch was sharing our digital video story in the annual mentormentee luncheon. We had already made an appointment with ITC ( Instructional
Technology Center). They sent me email the day before that they have the equipment to do
streaming video, which meets our needs of keeping the video quality high and the file size
low.
The next Monday, Dr. Rosenbusch and I met with Mike in ITC. We talked about our
expectations. Mike showed us what they are able to produce and gave us a demonstration
of the quality of streaming video. If we want to make it accessible on line, we’ll have to fill
out forms to apply for streaming video server space. We knew that we were pretty close to
the goal.
Dr. Rosenbusch and I made links form her WebCT course. Her students now can view the
clips on line and answer questions regarding teaching strategies for opening and closing a
class, analysis of strategies for teaching a foreign language, classroom management, and
teaching of reading and writing in their foreign language.
Streaming Video Success
Streaming Video Clips( Spanish classes for children who have just completed kindergarten
and first grade.)
Flng 486 WebCT.
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